Tel Aviv Israel

2024-05-03

86 who were evacuated from their homes from both southern and northern Israel following the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war have passed away, the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry announced on Thursday ahead of Holocaust Remembrance Day next week. According to the ministry, 52 Holocaust survivors died from the city of Ashkelon, 12 survivors from Sderot, and 11 survivors from other settlements in the south. In addition, 11 Holocaust survivors died from the evacuated northern settlements of Shomrat, Metula, Kibbutz Dan, Shlomi, and Kibbutz Yir’on. The data shows that some of the 238 who were evacuated to hotels returned to their homes or moved to other places. In the city of Ashkelon, 122 Holocaust survivors left hotels, while in Sderot, 33 Holocaust survivors left. Most of the Holocaust survivors who were evacuated from the north, on the other hand, remained in the evacuation centers, like much of the other residents. From Kiryat Shmona, for example, only two Holocaust survivors left the hotels, as well as two from Metula and seven from Shlomi. About 2,500 Holocaust survivors experienced the difficult events of . About 2,000 Holocaust survivors were forced to abandon their homes and evacuate to a safe area as a result. In the meantime, the ministry notes an increase in the number of Holocaust survivors who are assisted by welfare services. According to the data, this applies to 42% of Holocaust survivors in Israel. As of 2024, the office provides services to approximately 48,610 survivors, compared to 45,300 last year. 22,893 of the Holocaust survivors receive services from various frameworks of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, mainly through support communities. 1,710 survivors receive assistance through the social payments system, receiving mainly material and financial assistance. 5,110 receive services from the Friendship Fund in cooperation with the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry. Haim Raanan, 88, a Holocaust survivor who also survived the deadly October 7 Hamas attack on Kibbutz Beeri, shows a picture of himself as a child with his mother, Erin, wearing Stars of David, at his temporary accommodation in Tel Aviv, Israel January 21, 2024. (credit: REUTERS/ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI) In addition, more than 1,000 Holocaust survivors are assisted by a remote welfare program and a connected program - programs to alleviate loneliness and strengthen intergenerational ties through two-way digital communication technology systems for remote contact and physical meetings, which aim to improve the quality of life of Holocaust survivors in the community in terms of reducing loneliness and a sense of belonging, promoting a healthy lifestyle, and promoting digital literacy. The Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry added designated standards for the care and assistance of Holocaust survivors in local authorities, alongside the expansion of community services to all senior citizens in the State of Israel and various programs. Welfare and Social Affairs Minister Ya’akov Margi said: "This year, more than ever, we have an obligation as a ministry, as a society, and as a community to embrace Holocaust survivors, many of whom experienced the events of the terrible massacre on October 7 and brought back to them difficult memories of the terrible Holocaust." "At a time when the State of Israel is fighting for its right to exist and when terrible antisemitic events and demonstrations take place every day in cities and campuses around the world, the generation of Holocaust survivors are our light and moral compass and the beacon of faith in our righteousness. The people, many of whom have experienced the horrors of both times, are testimony to the rise of Israel and the strength and resilience of the Jewish people," he concluded.  Director General of the Welfare and Social Affairs Ministry, Yinon Aharoni, said: "Aid and support for Holocaust survivors is at the heart of the ministry's activities, and we are constantly working to diversify and expand the programs and services for this population. The goal is to personally reach every survivor, and to lay out before them all the rights and services they deserve. Our debt as a country and citizens to the survivors of the Holocaust is enormous, and we must work every day to make sure that they will live a good life with good health and a supportive and wide social network as possible, and this so that they will not lack anything." ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

released a proclamation on Monday afternoon ahead of the May 1 beginning of Jewish American Heritage Month in which he acknowledged the pain of the Jewish community post October 7 and repeated his commitment to securing a hostage deal.  "As we celebrate the Jewish American community's contributions this month, we also honor their resilience in the face of a long and painful history of persecution," Biden said.  Hamas' brutal terrorist attack on October 7 resurfaced "painful scars from millennia of antisemitism and genocide of Jewish people," according to the proclamation.  Biden said Jews across the country and around the world are still coping with the trauma of that day and the months since.  "Our hearts are with all the victims, survivors, families, and friends whose loved ones were killed, wounded, displaced, or taken hostage -- including women and girls whom Hamas has subjected to appalling acts of rape and sexual violence," Biden said.  his commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state.  Biden noted how the US and its allies defended Israel as it was under Iranian attack.  Biden also said his administration is working around the clock to free the hostages who have been held by Hamas for more than six months.  US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) and the Israeli war cabinet, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN) "As I have said to their families, we will not rest until we bring them home," he said.  He also said the US is leading international efforts to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza and an immediate ceasefire as part of a deal that releases hostages and lays the groundwork for an enduring two state solution.  Biden recognized the "ferocious surge" of antisemitism and touted federal agencies like the FBI and the Departments of Education, Justice and Homeland Security for investigating hate crimes and prosecuting those accountable. The president also touted the increase in security funding for non-profits and his appointment of Deborah Lipstadt as the first ever ambassador-level Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.  "Together, we are sending the message that, in America, evil will not win. Hate will not prevail," . "The venom and violence of antisemitism will not be the story of our time."  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Hamas to accept the terms of a hostage deal as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted that to destroy its battalions irrespective of any agreement. “Our focus right now is on getting and [the] hostages home. That is the most urgent thing and it’s also, I think, what is achievable,” Blinken told reporters in Jordan, hours before arriving in Israel on Tuesday night.He is slated to meet with Netanyahu on Wednesday to discuss the deal, as the situation hits a fateful moment in which there is likely to be a deal or a . A woman takes part in a protest demanding a hostage deal, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 1, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/SUSANA VERA) He spoke to reporters at a warehouse of the Jordan Hashemite Charity Organization where aid shipments from US-based charities are gathered. Blinken arrived in Israel after meeting with King Abdullah in Jordan, and in Riyadh with Arab foreign ministers and with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.He discussed the hostage deal and the importance of increasing humanitarian assistance to Gaza in each of his conversations.An issue for Hamas in arriving at a hostage deal has been preventing Israel from continuing the war. Netanyahu clarified on Tuesday that this was out of the question.“It’s out of the question to consider that we would stop the war before achieving all of its goals,” Netanyahu said.“We will enter Rafah and eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a [hostage] deal, in order to achieve absolute victory.”The US has opposed a Rafah operation with a viable Israeli plan to protect the Palestinians in Gaza but has agreed that Hamas cannot remain in Gaza.US National Security Communication Advisor John Kirby said, “We don’t want to see a major ground operation in Rafah” and certainly not one that hasn’t “factored in safety and security of those 1.5 million” Palestinians who have sought refuge there.Israel has believed that a Rafah operation is an important pressure lever to sway Hamas to make a deal. Initial reports out of Cairo, where Egyptians had seemed to advance the matter, were positive, but on Tuesday night, some skepticism had set in, as to whether Hamas could let go of its demand for a permanent ceasefire. The initial framework for a deal had included the release of 40 of the remaining 133 hostages in exchange for a six-week pause to the war. Israel would also be expected to release terrorists it had jailed for killing Israelis.There have been reports that Hamas dropped the number of live hostages included in the deal to 33 and KAN reported on Tuesday that the number could even be as low as 18.A Hamas delegation left Cairo late Monday to consult with the group’s leadership on the latest, tweaked proposal and was expected to report back within two days, two Egyptian security sources said.Egyptian security sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said some amendments had been made on conditions for a final ceasefire in Gaza demanded by Hamas, and around the Palestinian group’s demand for an Israeli withdrawal from the coastal enclave.Hamas had said on Saturday that it had received Israel’s latest position and would study it before submitting a reply.Israel had initially been expected to send a delegation to Cairo for additional talks on Tuesday, but held back from doing so, until it had a firm answer from Hamas, according to media reports.Netanyahu has been under pressure from hostage families, who fear that making a deal for only some of the hostages would make it harder to free all of them. The prime minister’s coalition partners on the Right have warned they would disband the government if Netanyahu did not conduct a military operation in Rafah.Separate from the issue of hostages, Blinken is also expected to discuss needed improvements on the issue of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.Blinken said he would “go over with the Israeli government the things that still need to be done if the test is going to be met of making sure that people have what they need.” Reuters contributed to this report. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-30

53% of Israelis think Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not doing enough to negotiate the held in Gaza, underscoring a divided public opinion on the government's proposed deal involving militants' release and a ceasefire - a KAN news survey revealed on Tuesday. The deal proposes the liberation of about 30 Israeli hostages in exchange for the release of hundreds of militants and a 40-day cessation of hostilities. While 54% support the deal, a significant 26% oppose it, and 20% remain undecided. The hesitance among Israelis stems from the extensive concessions required, including a complete stop to military actions and the freeing of thousands of militants, which many view as a potential risk to national security. The survey further indicates that skepticism extends beyond the hostage situation. A significant 65% of respondents doubt that Israel is on the verge of victory in ongoing conflicts, while only 17% believe the prime minister's assertions. A man pushes a bike near a billboard with pictures of hostages kidnapped in the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel March 18, 2024. (credit: CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/REUTERS) This division in public sentiment comes at a tense moment for Israel, with the government grappling with both and international scrutiny over its conflict strategies.  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-28

Recently, yet again, we abutted bereavement when we attended a “Life’s Door” event in Jerusalem, featuring Sarit Zussman, the mother of 22-year-old Ben, who recently fell in the Gazan war.  The organization, whose reason for being is to foster the idea of HOPE in adversity, invited Sarit because she is a shining beacon in the dark, swirling ocean of our current reality. The many invited guests listened spellbound to this petite, seemingly fragile woman. From the moment she began to speak, we understood the towering strength of her persona, the depth of her value-based ethos, and the eloquence of her quiet dignity, all of which have so sadly been amplified by her tragic circumstance. Like most Israelis since October 7, we gravitate toward families who have sacrificed the blood and breath of their dear ones in the cause of our collective and individual lives, both physical and spiritual.  We listen in stunned awe as they relate stories of the bravery and responsibility, the pranks, and the humanity of those killed in battle.  Israeli soldiers carry flowers at the funeral for Israeli reserve soldier Master Sergeant Omri Ben Shachar, who was killed during the ongoing ground operation by Israel's military against Hamas in Gaza, at Kiryat Shaul cemetery in Tel Aviv, Israel, December 10, (credit: REUTERS/CLODAGH KILCOYNE) With a few stark exceptions, I have not heard expressions of hate or calls for revenge at these events, but rather contemplation and introspection. A principal, recurring question that the bereaved ask is, “How can we – how can I – act, so that we may be worthy of the great sacrifice of our kin?” We flock in droves, in the hundreds, from the geographical and political and religious arc of the country, left, right and center, all coming to pay homage. We stand in long, meandering, whispering human lines at funerals, shiva houses, and memorial events, inching towards the grieving families.  Far from formal, orchestrated processionals, these lines, born of a spontaneous, deeply felt outpouring of admiration and esteem for our slain, take desultory shape. Links in a singular chain, we are a succession of interconnected loops winding through the fields and towns of our country and way beyond, crossing oceans, linking Jews across the continents, connecting us all: together, beyachad. And while each component appears to have a unique identity and character, zooming out, the big picture reveals a rich continuum of collective memory and shared destiny. WHEN QUEEN ELIZABETH died in September 2022, her opulent flag-draped coffin “lay in state” at Westminster Hall for five days as streams of people passed by to pay tribute.  The pomp, ceremony, and order surrounding this rare event were monumental, the antithesis of the Israeli experience. Israel has not had a monarch for millennia. We are a rough-and-tumble democracy with a largely nominal president.  Yet in these places of profound grief, I have an overwhelming sense that I stand in the presence of royalty. In its prime usage, the term royalty is associated with privilege. The term “royalties,” payments for the right of use of patents, etc., is derived from the entitlement of the nobility of yore to demand bounty for the use of their land and the like. In stark contrast, the eminence we encounter in these fraught times stems not from the right to take but rather from the willingness to give without question or boundary. Dictionary.com has an ancillary definition of the word royalty: “dignity or power.” Herein lies our nation’s true nobility. It is vested in those like the Zussman family, who display a depth of courage and commitment that empowers and compels them to action. My generation (due disclosure: I am 68 years old) witnessed seminal, inspirational events like the Six Day War, the Yom Kippur War, and Entebbe, with the Holocaust and the Declaration of Independence on the tongues of our parents.  Moving to Israel in the 1980s involved a decision to move to a Third World country in order to be present at a unique moment of destiny for our people. In contrast, the current generation of young Israelis has grown up at a time of material privilege in a thriving socioeconomic powerhouse. Yet when the great disaster struck our country, our youngsters revealed themselves as a hidden treasure that is part of the ancient DNA that makes us an eternal people, rising in service and sacrifice for their land and their people.  We have been beneficiaries of the splendor of their spirit. So many have given their lives to this call, their names forevermore etched on an imperial roll of honor. It is not just our combat soldiers and others who serve who wear that crown. Wives and children, parents, siblings, grandparents, volunteers, et al, make up the court of a majestic order, its roots dating back, way beyond the titular monarchies of today.  Rather than being educated at posh colleges and campuses, our aristocracy has been schooled by their parents and teachers, who themselves were raised in an environment of connection, commitment, and caring. Sarit Zussman described her son’s sense of destiny, as well as her vision and mission to heal and renew a troubled nation. Hers is a majestic response to great tragedy. Instead of fine linens of purple, blue, and crimson, our princes and princesses proudly wear a drab green. Our symbols of power are not scepters and golden orbs, but the worthy words of Sarit Zussman and so many others.  Our crown jewels are those magnificent people who continue to give so much of themselves so that we may live as sovereigns in our country and that our brethren overseas may have a home to return to.  Rather than elevating themselves to thrones of power, they raise us up from the depths of despair. With these glittering exemplars, who needs kings and queens? The writer dedicates this piece to Prof. Ben Corn, co-founder and executive chairman of Life’s Door, and to Dr. Woolfie Solomon. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-28

The powerful photograph posted by the White House on Thursday of holding freed four-year-old Israeli-American hostage Avigail Idan in his arms said it all.   “She’s remarkable and recovering from unspeakable trauma,” Biden wrote, referring to the murder during the Hamas massacre on October 7 of Avigail’s parents, Roi and Smadar, at Kibbutz Kfar Aza as her brother and sister, Michael and Amelia, hid in the closet of their home, and then being held captive until her release on November 26.  “Our time together yesterday was a reminder of the work we have in front of us to secure the release of all remaining hostages.”  The president and the US are true friends of Israel, even if they do sometimes criticize and even interfere in its external policies and internal politics. There is no better example of this than last Wednesday, the same day on which. It was on that day, April 24, that the American president signed into law a $95 billion wartime aid package that includes $17 billion in assistance to Israel. The aid for Israel, the president said, “can help replenish Israel’s air defense and provide other critical defense so Iran can never carry out the destruction it intended with its attack 10 days ago.”  Noting that Iran had launched an unprecedented missile and drone attack on Israel on April 13, Biden said that thanks to Israel’s defense systems and the assistance of its allies across the world, including the US, no serious damage had occurred.  US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) and the Israeli war cabinet, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN) “My commitment to Israel, I want to make clear again, is ironclad,” he declared. “The security of Israel is critical. I will always make sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself against Iran and terrorists it supports.” Biden signed the package to Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan after the US Senate passed it in a 79-18 vote on Tuesday and the House approved aid to Israel 366 to 58 the previous Saturday, following months of delays and debate over how much the US should be involved in foreign wars. “Today, members of both parties in the House voted to advance our national security interests and send a clear message about the power of American leadership on the world stage,” Biden said. “At this critical inflection point, they came together to answer history’s call, passing urgently needed national security legislation that I have fought for months to secure.” President Isaac Herzog spoke on behalf of all Israelis when he issued a statement expressing “deepest thanks” to the US Congress, Biden, Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority leader Hakeem  Jeffries, and the American people. “As I conveyed last summer before a joint session of Congress: when the US is strong, Israel is stronger; when Israel is strong, the US is more secure,” Herzog said. “The overwhelming bipartisan support for Israel is a striking testament to the fact that Israel has no closer ally than America, and America has no closer ally than Israel." In a meeting last month with a delegation of US lawmakers, Herzog articulated the common objectives of Jerusalem and Washington. "We share with the United States of America, and with the President of the United States of America, our dear friend President Joe Biden, the same vision of eradicating terror, of bringing the hostages back home, a vision of moving towards peace with our neighbors - once we finish the ability of our enemies to carry out terror from Gaza against us. And finally, most importantly, we share the vision of inclusion of Israel in the region, in which I believe strongly, including the normalization with Saudi Arabia." As reports come in of a possible new hostage deal, we thank the US and its president for putting pressure on Hamas via Egyptian and to release the remaining captives in Gaza as soon as possible. Especially in these troubled times as we witness the anti-Israeli disturbances on US campuses and conclude the festival of Passover, marking the Jewish people’s liberation from slavery in Egypt, we’d like to voice our gratitude to Israel’s most important ally: Thank you for being our friend! ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-26

When I try to remind myself of the chain of events of April 14, 2024, I think of it a bit like how battle legacies are told about the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Unverified reports ran amok on that fateful Saturday that the prime minister was spending the weekend at the house of a billionaire friend who allegedly has a nuclear shelter.  The Israeli anxiety threshold, which was already unhealthy, was reaching its peak. Then it was revealed that a Zion Wing plane, the Air Force One of the Israeli prime minister, took off without informing who was on it. Was someone running away? Were we sending a designated survival government abroad? Was a nuclear strike expected? The prime minister did not update the public, and no one made an official statement until 10:41 p.m. when the prime minister made a laconic statement that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks to the media during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2023 (credit: MAYA ALLERUZZO/POOL/VIA REUTERS) We were first told that the attack would arrive in nine hours, but that very quickly went down to three hours. “There are cruise missiles on the way,” they said. Iran revealed that they had placed a stopwatch at the top of a central square, counting down to the destruction of Israel. A little after midnight, our airspace was closed. What do we do now? The whole country was awake, immobile in front of the television, waiting for comfort, hope, information, anything. Do we go to sleep? Wake the children? The government must have the solutions. Echoes of explosions were heard around Jerusalem, no sirens sounding, then the sirens came, then reports of fallen missiles. Then came the announcement of a significant Israeli response. We understand: We are in a regional war. Against the backdrop of the Iranian attack – and it is quite difficult to mention real life at this point – the Education Ministry announced that schools would be closed for 48 hours. Home Front Command then announced that workplaces may continue operating as usual. ISRAEL HAS yet to solve the impossible equation, in its 76 years, in which workplaces are open while schools are closed. What is the obvious missing factor in the equation? Women.  In most cases, women will stay at home and not go to work. Behind this decision is also an economic consideration, which states that the loss of a woman’s work day to the familial income is a smaller loss than that of a man. That is only possibly true, and it requires correction. The ambiguity regarding this and the lack of transparency in the decision-making processes is disturbing. Some argue that there is no decision-making process at all and that another thing we have not yet learned from October 7 is our addiction to pushing and postponing important issues. Another thing we didn’t learn from October 7 is the importance of international alliances. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – or, more accurately, the police minister – continues to speak offensively against the US. The battered Jordan that mobilized in our favor along with other Muslim countries is one of the reasons that the Iranian attack failed. Still, the prime minister tweeted, “We intercepted, we learned. Together we will win.” No thanks to any other player who came to our aid. Israel managed to prevent an unprecedented attack by Iran against Israel. It did this thanks to two elements: its technological and scientific strength that enabled the development of defense tools and a defense coalition consisting of several countries that militarily aided Israel. Israel has a strategic opportunity to create a regional strategic alliance that can generate economic, political, and military pressure on Iran without Israel having to be in the arena alone.  Political work, high-level foreign relations, harnessing partners, and diplomatic work are required here – exactly the opposite of what our government has to offer. When a convicted minister tweets “dardale” (slang for “lame”) regarding an attack against Iran that Israel has yet to confirm it had conducted, you know we have a problem. The State of Israel currently needs to emphasize expertise in foreign relations and security, not only in response but also in warfare. In order to move forward, in order to fix, we have to stop destroying. We need to recognize the good that international alliances provide, we need to free ourselves from the concepts of invincibility and make a real effort to improve, we need to integrate more diverse population groups into the leadership, including women, to increase perspectives and representation. We need to restore the public’s trust in the leadership. We need elections. The writer is an Israeli women’s rights activist, lecturer, social activist, strategist, and media personality. She is among the initiators of the coalition of women’s organizations and the founder of Building an Alternative (Bonot Alternativa). ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-15

Israel’s wars changed fundamentally in January 1991. Why January 1991? Israel was not at war with any of its Arab neighbors at that time. No, it wasn’t, but the US – under President George H.W. Bush – was. As a result of the US invasion of Iraq, Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein decided to launch Scud missiles toward Israel, primarily at Tel Aviv and Haifa. From that moment on, Israel’s confrontations with enemies beyond its borders changed forever. It was no longer Israeli tanks against Egyptian tanks in the Sinai or Syrian tanks on the Golan Heights; rather, it was their rockets and missiles against Israel’s population centers, their missiles against Israel’s kindergartens. So what was Israel to do? It did not do back then what it did for the first time in its history after October 7 and emptied large swaths of its territory. Instead, it embarked on an ambitious project to develop a three-tiered missile defense system so that if the enemy would launch missiles or rockets, Israel would be able to swat most of them out of the sky. Israel’s missile defense system actually started a few years earlier. In 1988, following the purchase by Arab countries of surface-to-surface missiles and the use by Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war of a Scud with a range of 600 km. that could hit Tel Aviv, Israel joined Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defense Initiative, popularly known as “Star Wars.” A contract was signed with Israel Aircraft Industries to develop an experimental missile that could hit an incoming rocket. Real movement on that project, however, did not begin until 1991, when the need became critically apparent as a result of Saddam’s Scud attacks on Israel.The Israel Missile Defense Organization conducts live-fire intercept tests of the David's Sling weapon system (credit: DEFENSE MINISTRY) The three-tiered missile defense system that Israel developed since then is made up of the Arrow, designed to intercept ballistic missiles from Iran that fly above the earth’s atmosphere; David’s Sling, intended to intercept medium- to long-range rockets, cruise missiles, and drones in the hands of Hezbollah in Lebanon; and the Iron Dome, to take out the short-range rockets that Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fire from Gaza. April 14, the night of Iran’s , is a landmark in that it demonstrated that this anti-missile defense umbrella actually works, and this – like those Scuds in 1991 – could have a lasting impact on how wars will be waged here going forward. The Arab world, in the beginning, believed it could defeat Israel through the use of conventional armies, trademarks of the 1948, 1967, and 1973 wars. When it became clear that Israel could not be defeated through traditional warfare, the country’s enemies shifted to a different tactic: terrorism, with the belief that terrorism would wear down the will and resilience of the nation. When that, too, failed, the focus turned to rockets, in the belief that raining down hundreds and perhaps thousands of rockets on the country would lead to its demise. As a result, developing a system to prevent exactly that from happening became a top priority, one that relied on cutting-edge technology. The faith of Israelis in its military’s cutting-edge technology took a battering on October 7, however, when all that vaunted technology – all the hi-tech bells and whistles that were supposed to make the Gaza border impenetrable – failed and 3,000 well-armed and well-trained terrorists intent on breaking through the border wall. Not only did the technology fail in preventing a massive terrorist infiltration, but the intelligence community, which relies heavily on technology to gather intelligence, failed to warn of an impending attack. All of a sudden, placing enormous amounts of faith in the ability of state-of-the-art technology to keep the country safe seemed like a terrible mistake. On October 7, technology and Israel. On April 14, it saved it. Well, at least the technology did. The initial intelligence upon which the IDF reportedly acted on April 1 to kill the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps commander Mohammad Reza Zahedi in Damascus was flawed. Israel reportedly – and not without reason, given past experience – did not expect the type of Iranian reaction that followed, and definitely not an attack from Iranian soil. That assessment, as is now painfully evident, was way off base. Nevertheless, Israel – thanks to the cooperation of the US and regional allies – did have exact intelligence Saturday night of an impending attack. On October 7, the military received signs of an imminent attack but that information. On April 14, it had the information and to act on it. Unlike what happened on October 7 when all the hi-tech wizardry failed to block Hamas, this time, all that wizardry did the trick – and the ability to shoot down a missile above the earth’s stratosphere with another is nothing less than wizardry. The impressive show this missile defense system put on was important not only for Israel’s enemies to see, but also for Israelis to see themselves. It is clear why Hezbollah and Iran needed to witness the effectiveness of missile defense systems. This helps to restore Israel’s deterrence, which suffered a blow on October 7. Despite enduring a terrible setback then, Israel with its intelligence and technology proving penetrable and far less robust than expected, the capability on Sunday morning – with assistance from allies – to intercept 99% of the projectiles fired from Iran must be sobering for its enemies. They view their rocket arsenal as the most effective way to attack the Jewish state. As important, however is the impact of this technological success on Israelis themselves. It was striking to see how quickly Israeli citizens returned to themselves within hours of watching missiles and rockets and drones in real-time headed in their direction. Once the all-clear signal was sounded, life went back to normal as the country saw that the system worked and that hundreds of rockets, missiles, and suicide drones fired at the same time could be batted away. Yes, it’s expensive, and no, the country can’t do it all on its own. But this showed that the umbrella works, and having a working umbrella is hugely reassuring when – as is currently the case – the regional forecast is for storms ahead. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-15

A rabbi was denied the ability to place an advertisement calling for the release of Hamas hostages in certain locations of South Brunswick in early February, despite there being Pro-Palestinian advertisements at the same locations. Rutgers Chabad Rabbi Mendy Carlebach told The Jerusalem Post that Lamar Advertising of New York City and New Jersey had told him that they were not accepting “anything related to the hostages or the kidnappings” on two billboards at Monmouth Junction. Lamer clarified to the rabbi that the township did not accept “sensitive or religious” messaging in the location because it was on South Brunswick’s property. “This makes no sense to not allow the victims of the worst terror attack on Israel to bring attention to hostages but to allow propaganda,” Carlebach told Lamar in an email. The rabbi said he contacted the township, which told him there was no such restriction. The township did not respond to the Post’s queries. A man pushes a bike near a billboard with pictures of hostages kidnapped in the deadly October 7 attack on Israel by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas from Gaza, in Tel Aviv, Israel March 18, 2024. (credit: CARLOS GARCIA RAWLINS/REUTERS) The site had previously hosted an advertisement that called to “save Gaza’s children, call your congress member.” Lamar told the rabbi that the advertisement ended on December 14. However, the rabbi said the site continued to have advertisements with religious messaging . Lamar did not respond to Post’s requests for comment. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-14

‘With global M&A hitting new highs, more companies are pursuing deals, thus more will likely fail because their leaders either make cursory attempts at cultural integration or do not address the requirement at all.” (Financier Worldwide Magazine) In 2014, acquired the start-up Nest, known for its innovation and automation capabilities. However, the two companies soon proved to be incompatible. Nest had a transparent top-down approach, while Google was more engineer-driven and had a bottom-up culture. Both companies failed to examine their respective cultural characteristics to identify the differences and thus could have addressed them by finding commonalities and building on them. The 2017 merger between Amazon and is a notable example of where efficiency clashed with idealism. Although both companies recognized the potential benefits of leveraging each other’s strengths, they neglected to consider their cultural compatibility. The stark disparity in values and organizational culture, particularly in terms of hierarchy versus egalitarianism, resulted in a suboptimal outcome for the merger. Amazon’s culture is hierarchical, structured, and precise, characterized by defined processes aimed at maximizing efficiency. Employees operate within a clear hierarchy and know the guidelines that dictate their behavior. On the other hand, Whole Foods was driven by ideological approaches and values. Before the Amazon merger, the company had an egalitarian structure organized around self-managed teams, granting individual employees significant decision-making power. Face-to-face interactions between workers, vendors, and customers were the norm, and managers could operate their stores with autonomy and tailor products to customer preferences. These are not isolated incidents. The history of mergers and acquisitions is littered with failed deals because the significance of addressing culture was either misunderstood or ignored. Numerous surveys have shown that between 50% and 75% of all post-merger integrations fail to achieve their original objectives due to cultural conflicts. Some sources suggest that the failure rate could be even higher, exceeding 80%. Market data is seen on part of an electronic board displayed at the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 4, 2020 (credit: AMIR COHEN/REUTERS) Finn Majlergaard, the CEO of Gugin argues that companies can face significant consequences if they overlook cultural integration. When key employees depart, customers leave, and employee satisfaction decreases; the result can be costly. Unfortunately, all of this can be prevented if companies recognize the importance of cultural integration from the start and understand that it is not their core competency to facilitate such integration. This apparent lack of interest contradicts a recent of top executives. Of them, 76% emphasized that cultural compatibility is crucial for successful post-merger integration. Each company has a unique culture shaped by its purpose and brand. Companies must understand how these elements interact to build and maintain a strong culture. Secondly, a strong company culture is a magnet for top talent. The most successful companies in the world clearly define, consistently execute, and effectively align their culture throughout their organization, inspiring high employee commitment. This approach to culture attracts talented employees and motivates them to consistently deliver on the company’s brand promise to its customers. Thirdly, culture fosters alignment. Culture distinguishes between engaged teams moving in different directions and engaged, aligned teams working toward a common goal. Fourth, culture impacts performance. Companies with a well-defined culture have a competitive edge in the marketplace and have been shown to enhance performance outcomes across various measures. Addressing culture becomes critical when two large global companies with dissimilar cultures wish to integrate all aspects of their business quickly and thoroughly. This is precisely what happened to the Israeli company, IronSource. IronSource employees enjoyed a close-knit, informal work culture emphasizing an “Open Door” policy between employees and management. They also appreciated perks such as seven annual “Sunday off” days and off-site trips to exciting locations. However, things changed after the merger with Unity. The new corporate structure shifted from an informal culture to a more formal, hierarchical environment. This change also meant a departure from the focus on work-life balance and the perks, such as vacations to tropical islands, that employees had previously enjoyed. The most significant change was perhaps based on shifting from an outcome-oriented culture to a process-oriented one. Like many Israeli hi-tech organizations, IronSource had fast, agile decision-making processes and a quick product launch cycle. However, they had to adapt to a more structured American process orientation after the merger. This required them to explain each decision, which slowed down their usual work style. Additionally, every change necessitated the creation of a new strategy plan, and implementation required coordination and approval from multiple stakeholders. Productivity decreased, and employee motivation and retention suffered as a result. Developing and executing a strategy to merge cultures effectively is not just a good idea; it’s a necessity for the success of mergers and acquisitions. The potential business implications of cultural incompatibility are profound and can lead to significant challenges. It’s crucial to remember that forcing one culture onto another is a recipe for failure. More and more organizations are using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies, such as natural language processing (NLP), to identify and address cultural differences and areas for improvement in preparation for integration. According to PwC’s ‘2020 M&A Integration Survey’, almost nine out of 10 companies use digital tools during post-merger integration. These techniques can assist acquirers in identifying targets that closely align with their corporate culture. Additionally, they can help pinpoint any gaps in their respective cultures, allowing for dedicated efforts to improve cultural coherence during the post-deal integration stage. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), acquiring companies must take the three key steps outlined below to ensure a transaction does not go awry. First, culture should sit at the table already in the diligence phase. Culture does not reveal itself quickly, but knowledge of differences and the assumptions upon which they are based can be gathered during diligence and used to move forward post-merger. It’s essential to have a clear understanding of operational culture. Operational culture includes the values and norms of the company – how people think, act, and make decisions. These also include differences in leadership styles, standards, communication, decision-making, risk-taking, protocols, training approaches, and more. Second, it is essential to determine the culture of the target company. This will provide a clear understanding of the similarities and differences between the two companies. This understanding will facilitate the strategy for integrating the cultures and help assess the difficulty level. Additionally, if multiple acquisition candidates are under consideration, it is essential to consider the difficulty level in integrating all cultures. Finally, organizations need to create an integration plan. The key elements of such a plan are a dedicated integration team (including people from all levels and all critical departments of the two companies), a team leader whose sole responsibility is the success of the integration effort, and constant communication of the new company’s goals. Let’s not forget that the success of organizations is largely due to the people who work in them. However, when it comes to mergers, decisions are often based solely on numbers, and the “people equation” is either an afterthought or not considered. What is frequently overlooked and needs to be addressed is the fear and confusion that often result from mergers and acquisitions. It is best practice for both organizations to inform employees about the integration plan, explaining not only what will happen but also why it is being implemented. Furthermore, clear communication and sharing the vision with the teams will reduce anxiety and encourage employees to support the integration. This happens when they understand the significance of integration for the organization’s future and their role in the process. Lastly, establishing formal and informal communication channels across the merged organization will foster trust and allow employees to express their thoughts. In conclusion, companies that have successfully integrated a cultural component into their merger strategy are more successful in the long term. As Peter Drucker, considered the father of modern business management, famously said, “You can’t change culture; you can only work with the cards you are dealt.” The writer is a corporate cross-cultural business consultant with extensive experience in US, Israeli, and global business cultures. Founder of TrainingCQ, she specializes in cross-cultural and virtual communication consultancy and has over 25 years of experience in culturally related issues. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-14

El Al and Arkia have announced the cancellation or alteration of their flights scheduled for Saturday or Sunday. This was in response to the closure of Israel's airspace to aviation from 12:30 am to 07:00 am, prompted by an Iranian drone attack on Israel. The airlines have committed to providing further updates as new information becomes available. According to the security system guidelines, beginning at 12:30 am on Sunday, will be closed to international and domestic flights. The flight schedule from is expected to be significantly altered due to delayed arrivals. Ramon Airport will also shut down to traffic. As the Transportation Ministry stated, travelers are advised to consult their airlines and the Airport Authority's website for updated flight times before heading to the airport.El Al Israel Airlines planes are seen on the tarmac at Ben Gurion International airport in Lod, near Tel Aviv, Israel March 10, 2020. (credit: REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun) Here is a list of El Al flights that took off but had their routes altered:- Flight LY 082, scheduled from Bangkok to Tel Aviv, will return to Bangkok.- Flight LY 088, from Phuket to Tel Aviv, will also return to Bangkok. Canceled El Al flights include:- Flight LY 1326 from Paris to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 884 from Rome to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 292 from Barcelona to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 288 from Milan to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 576 from Bucharest to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 558 from Sofia to Tel Aviv- Flight LY 548 from Athens to Tel Aviv- Flights LY 971 and LY 973 from Tel Aviv to Dubai- Flights LY 792 and LY 974 from Dubai to Tel Aviv- Flights LY 613, LY 611 from Tel Aviv to Moscow and LY 614, LY 612 from Moscow to Tel Aviv Arkia flights that have been rescheduled include:- Flight 611 to the Seychelles, departing at 07:30- Rhodes flight 073/4, now departing at 08:00- Flight 771 to Grenoble, scheduled for 09:00- Flights 211/2 to and from Athens, postponed to a later date- Flight 338 from Milan delayed to a later time- Flights 779/780 to and from Geneva, also postponed to a later date ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-13

Family members of issued an emergency statement on Saturday evening outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The statement said: "If in order to receive our loved ones quickly and alive, the price is a ceasefire, agree to end the war and now. Then, you will be free to deal with the threats from Gaza. First, save lives. The lack of coordination that leads to decisions that endanger the lives of the abductees is carelessness and a crime."  Additionally, thousands gathered Saturday evening at the Hostages Square in Tel Aviv to call for the return of the hostages held by Hamas.  The official announcement about the rally read: "The and the cabinet must rescue and release all the hostages! For their freedom and the freedom of all the people of Israel!" Among the speakers this evening were Shai Binyamin, the daughter of hostage Ron Binyamin, Yizhar Lifshitz, the son of hostage Oded Lifshitz, and Noam Perry, the daughter of hostage Haim Perry, who marks his 80th birthday in captivity. A woman takes part in a protest demanding a hostage deal, in Tel Aviv, Israel, February 1, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/SUSANA VERA) At the same time as the hostages' rally, a demonstration against the government and in favor of elections took place at the nearby Kaplan intersection.  "The government of destruction is leading us from disaster to disaster and does not have the moral and public legitimacy to continue to serve," reads the official statement of the organization Free in Our Country. "We must ensure that leadership that is committed to the needs of the people and the state is established—and not to its sectoral and survival needs." Last week, the Hadera police handed out an "information sheet" to protesters in front of the Prime Minister's residence in Caesarea regarding their demonstration rights. The sheet, among other things, states that three people in a public space are considered a prohibited gathering punishable by imprisonment. The information sheet was without an official logo of the Israel Police, and its purpose was to scare the protestors and make them give up their right to protest. On Saturday evening, the protest in Caesarea was marked by the repeated arrests of protesters, and the "information sheets" were distributed to the protesters. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-10

House Republicans will bring a resolution that reiterates US support for Israel to the floor Wednesday afternoon as they rail against what they call President Joe Biden's one-sided pressure on Israel for .  During their weekly press conference Wednesday morning, House Republican leadership slammed Biden and Democrats while professing support for .  The Republican conference believes any effort from the Biden administration to pressure Israel into an immediate ceasefire without conditions weakens Israel's hand, Vice Chair of the House Republican Conference Rep. Blake Moore (UT) said.  Moore said the most frustrating part of the Biden administration's handling of this situation is that while Israel works through back-channel negotiations and to set up a temporary ceasefire, Hamas continues to walk back these good faith efforts. U.S. President Joe Biden pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to discuss the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (credit: MIRIAM ALSTER/POOL/REUTERS) "House Republicans refuse to stand for this, and we will remain committed to our ally Israel and their fight against the evils of terrorism," Moore said.  Biden has transformed into an anti-Israel president more concerned with placating antisemitism in his base than standing with our "historic and vitally important ally," House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said.  "And it's not just the White House," Johnson said. "No one has forgotten that Chuck Schumer did the unthinkable by opining on and meddling in Israel's elected leadership. These are unthinkable developments, and it's shocking to us, but it continues." Johnson referenced the letter sent by who asked for Biden to halt arms transfers to Israel, calling it "wrong and dangerous" and that Democrats are losing their moral clarity on the issue.  We support Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu as he leads his country in permissible acts of self-defense, Rep. Maria Salazer (R-FL) said. It's also important to mention our intention to break the chokehold that Hamas has over the Palestinians, Salazer added, saying Hamas is not in the business of bringing prosperity to the Palestinians.  "Democrats do not have the monopoly over compassion. We are compassionate, too, we Republicans. And the compassionate thing to do is let Israel finish this war so they can end the reign of terror that Hamas has unleashed throughout the whole region, specifically on the Palestinians," Salzer said.  It's been six months since Hamas broke a ceasefire to slaughter innocent people in their homes, Republican WHIP Steve Scalise (LA) said.  "Unfortunately, over the past six months, the Democrat party has cemented its place as the pro-Hamas party," Scalise said. "Look no further than President Biden giving Israel ceasefire ultimatums or Chuck Schumer calling for new elections in Israel."  ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-09

Former US President claimed on Monday that Jewish Americans who vote for President Joe Biden in the upcoming elections "do not love Israel [and] should be spoken to." Trump claimed this in an interview that aired on Real America's Voice, a right-wing television channel. He continued his rampage by saying that Jewish and African Americans vote for the Democratic party out of "habit." "A lot of [voting patterns] is habit. Jewish people, by habit, just vote for the Democrats, and [African Americans] by habit vote for the Democrats." Recently, the former US president has openly criticized 's policies regarding Israel and the ongoing war with Hamas. Trump continues to argue that Biden is "on the side of the Palestinians." Joe Biden continues to maintain a nuanced stance on Israel's role in Gaza conflict, supporting Israel to an extent internationally while scrutinizing Prime Minister Netanyahu. US President Joe Biden meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (not pictured) and the Israeli war cabinet, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/EVELYN HOCKSTEIN) In the past, Trump has criticized the American Jewish community for what he claims a lack of support which is what he claims to be a hatred of Israel. In September 2023, he posted on social media that liberal Jews who did not support him in his electoral run and chose to vote for the Democratic party had "voted to destroy America and Israel." According to statistics, more secular Jewish Americans tend to vote for the, while more religious and conservative Jews, by in large tend to vote for the Republican party. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-07

 In the six months since she survived Hamas' Oct. 7 attack by hiding beneath a pile of bodies at an outdoor music festival turned killing field in southern Israel, Ziv Abud has devoted all her time to freeing her . Abud, 26, and her boyfriend Eliya Cohen were among party-goers at that was attacked by Hamas gunmen. Cohen was taken captive and is among the over 130 people still being held. Hamas' attack sparked the devastating war in Gaza. "We need more effort, we actually need to do more things in order to release them, because apparently what we are doing is not enough," said Abud in a that has become a protest spot for families of hostages and their supporters. "I expected them to arrive home by now, alive, because to return hostages in coffins is not a picture of victory." Many hostages' families are demanding the Israeli government does whatever it takes to secure their release from Gaza and are trying to increase pressure by stepping up street protests. They have also petitioned Israel's allies to do more to help their cause. People carry placards during a protest calling for the immediate release of hostages held in Gaza who were seized from southern Israel on October 7 by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas gunmen during a deadly attack, at a square in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 11, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD) Egypt on Sunday will host a fresh round of negotiations aimed at achieving a Gaza truce and hostage release deal. Abud, wearing a t-shirt with a picture of her boyfriend, recounted how she survived the Hamas assault. "I was buried under the bodies for six hours, and after six hours a man came to look for his son. And when he came to look for his son, based on the location his son had sent him, he found me and five other people," she told Reuters in an interview. "If he hadn't come, I might not be alive today either." Israel says it will not stop its Gaza offensive until all hostages are freed and Hamas is no longer a threat. Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. "I myself have experienced the horrors, I myself am in mourning for my nephew, for my family, and with all of this I still have to get up every morning and think to myself - what I am doing today to release my partner from Gaza?" Abud said. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-04-06

Six months have passed since the terrible , when sadistic, radical Hamas terrorists stormed into dormant communities, paraglided into parties, and burst into bases, burning entire families alive, raping innocent partygoers, taking babies, toddlers, and Holocaust survivors as hostages, and sparking a fierce response from Israel. The international community has long forgotten these atrocities which started the war in the first place, gradually shifting to to stop fighting those who pledged to commit the same horrors against it again and again. Some have even indulged themselves in the largest gaslighting campaign in the world, blatantly denying some of the most documented crimes in history and destroying posters calling for the release of innocent hostages aged from as young as one to as old as 86. The fact that the leaders of Hamas oversaw the entire operation from their fancy five-star hotels in Doha is known. And that never thought of showing an ounce of introspection, uttering a word of apology, or even partly condemning the massacre committed by the criminal organization they have been empowering and harboring for decades – is sadly not very surprising, either. Yet now, for some reason, the world looks to Doha as if it is the messiah who will bring about the release of the Israeli hostages, human beings who are being abused daily – physically, mentally, and sexually – by the same captors who only just recently have murdered their families and neighbors. It must be stressed that responsibility for the lives of our hostages largely lies in the hands of Doha (putting aside the sadistic terrorists holding them in the tunnels). Because, from a redheaded baby to an 86-year-old grandfather, all of these innocent lives are presumably being held in complexes that were funded by Qatari money. The responsibility for their lives rests therefore on the shoulders of the sheikh, depending on his level of creativity in pressuring the leaders of the fanatic religious extremist group. After all, the Hamas leaders’ safe haven in Doha hotels is within reach of the royal palace. People carry placards during a protest calling for the immediate release of hostages held in Gaza who were seized from southern Israel on October 7 by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas gunmen during a deadly attack, at a square in Tel Aviv, Israel, November 11, 2023. (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD) This is because Qatar has many tools to pressure Hamas; they simply need to apply them. They can freeze accounts, nationalize assets, downgrade the terrorist leaders to economy class, or, heavens forbid, buy them a Subaru instead of a BMW. For all we know, they can take Hamas leaders into a dark alley and tell them that there’s no going out until the hostages are released now. The sheikh can threaten to ban Hamas leaders from the country forever. He can threaten them by turning his gargantuan propaganda machine against them and shame them on an international level. Where there is a will, there is a way. The only question remains: is there such a will? In this context, it is necessary to stress in the strongest possible way that a deal featuring the release of convicted Palestinian murderers, who enjoy visiting hours, lawyers, fair trials, gyms, and supervised nutrition on the one hand, in juxtaposition to Israeli babies, mothers, and elderly civilians who were and are kept in the exact opposite conditions on the other, can never be framed within the context of a “fair exchange deal.” Surely Doha would never want to see its legacy remaining as that of an actor who showed so much weakness in applying pressure on their own special guests that they ended up creating an equation in which babies and grandparents were equal to murderers and terrorists, thus teaching all Jihadist movements that kidnapping women and children is indeed an applicable tactic for achieving their goals? “It’s good for both Israel and the US that Hamas is under our scrutiny in Doha. This way, we can oversee their actions. So, we shouldn’t drive them out,” they might argue in Qatar. Well, that this attempted scrutiny did not go so well on October 7 is no secret. “But Israel was the one who asked us to pay Gazan families and PA salaries,” they might push back, denying any responsibility for the money coming into Gaza and spilled into tunnel digging and rocket manufacturing, and conveniently ignoring any plausible connection between guests in Doha’s hotels and their counterparts inside the Gaza Strip. And indeed, the Israeli public has surely learned its lesson and understood well enough who can never be trusted again to run any civil operation in the area. Experts also say that Qatar seeks to grow closer to the West while not having to give up on its unique traditional identity, which explains the many changes it made in terms of legal affairs, as was evident during the FIFA World Cup. Some, such as IMPACT-se, a renowned institute that specializes in analyzing educational systems, even pointed to the positive changes Qatar made to school textbooks, removing examples of antisemitism and racism from their curricula. However, Qatar is still operating problematic mechanisms abroad in terms of politics, media, and education. For one, Qatar’s support of Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated regimes, parties, social initiatives, and religious institutions across the world and in the West is a source of concern. A quick reminder: the Muslim Brotherhood is the spiritual ancestor of Salafi Jihadism, which incubated organizations such as al-Qaeda and ISIS and was based on utterly antisemitic European pretexts, imported and translated into Islamic ideology by the likes of the prominent Egyptian Islamic scholar Sayyid Qutb. Nowadays, it is an incarnation of expansionist political and social aspirations under religious pretexts far outreaching the local Middle Eastern geography, which don’t necessarily coincide with Western ideals of liberalism and freedoms. In the field of media, Qatari propaganda gargantuan Al Jazeera spews rhetoric filled with antisemitism, Holocaust denial, and rejection of any presence of a Jewish state in the Jews’ ancestral homeland – especially, but not exclusively, on its Arabic-speaking outlets. The channel directly broadcasts videos made by Hamas military propaganda, showing terrorists as positive role models and constantly dehumanizing Israelis. Simultaneously, their West-facing platform, AJ+, knowingly ignites the fuel of neo-Marxist ideas regarding social, economic, and even racial issues, which in turn creates discord and conflict within Western society. All the while, the channel manages to bypass official registration under the FARA Act in the US, for example. On the issue of education, Qatari-funded faculties in many fields, from social studies to exact sciences, raise much concern, with some connecting them to the widespread anti-Israel sentiments in many faculties. One worrying example is the Texas A&M University affair; astronomical amounts of Qatari funds as well as scientific rights and collaborations were concealed from public eyes. This ultimately led to the decision to shut down the campus in Qatar altogether. Qatari involvement in K-12 education systems in the US is also notable, with Doha-funded content completely ignoring, if not eliminating, the existence of Israel and Jewish history, promoting the “Palestine from the river to the sea” agenda instead. As the Jewish ultra-Orthodox saying goes, “As long as the candle is lit – it is possible to repair.” Like some of their counterparts in the Gulf and beyond, the regime in Doha has tremendous potential to become an agent who stands for peace and stability, promotes understanding and multiculturalism in the region, and invests its remarkable wealth and inexhaustible energy in initiatives that empower a sense of approaching one another rather than endorsing destabilizing actors – all without having to give up on any of its traditional values. Qatar can and should live up to its ethos: divest from delegitimizing, conspiratorial, and antisemitic propaganda; detach from the political and social crusade against the West; push forward peace-building initiatives; and use all its resources to punish and pressure Hamas to give up their arms, release the hostages, and mark a path for a regional solution to the conflict. And finally, in the spirit of our nearing Passover: let our people go. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-30

In June 2014, then-US president Barack Obama green-lighted a Fatah-Hamas unity coalition, leaving Israel ominously isolated. Israel stood by its solitary self in absolute opposition to the government cunningly created by Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniyeh. Just about every Western leader was prepared to swallow the Palestinian deception in which “technocrats” were to run government ministries as stand-ins for the real power brokers in Palestinian politics (i.e., Hamas). Just about everybody was prepared to play dumb and pretend that Iranian-backed jihadists committed to the genocide of the Jewish People in the Land of Israel weren’t going to be the recipients of Western aid and diplomatic cooperation. Nobody was prepared to admit that the Palestinian Authority had gone defunct; that Palestinian statehood had become a hazardous idea; and that Israel had no genuine Palestinian partner for a peaceful two-state scenario. Obama and the Europeans were unable to acknowledge any of this since they had invested so heavily in the PA and Abbas, and it was so much simpler to vilify Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu as the obstacle to peace. Indeed, distancing America from Israel had been Obama’s modus operandi from day one. He infamously warned in March 2014 that Israel could expect to face international isolation and sanctions from countries and companies across the world if Netanyahu failed to endorse his bid for Palestinian statehood. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken attends a press conference, during his visit to Israel, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel November 3, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/JONATHAN ERNST) He proceeded to lament the fact that America, in his words, did not any longer have absolute power in this “diffuse” world, and that he would not be able to “manage” the coming anti-Israel fallout. There wasn’t really much anguish in Obama’s voice. Obama wasn’t too upset about Israel’s “impending isolation” or the fact that America “would have reduced influence in issues that are of interest to Israel.” It was all very artificial. Obama was merely feigning dismay at the possible isolation of Israel, while in practice purposefully paving the way towards Israel’s isolation and an American distancing from Israel. The give-away was Obama’s total failure to place any responsibility on Palestinian leaders for retardation of peace. There was not a smidgeon of answerability that he attached to Abbas or Hamas. He had nothing to say about Hamas stockpiling of Iranian missiles and RPGs. He issued no warnings of PA diplomatic isolation or economic collapse if Abbas did not compromise and advance the peace process. Only to Netanyahu. But of course, Obama truly “wished he had the influence” to arrest the isolation of Israel. Yeah, right. The big chill was on. THIS HISTORY is relevant to the current moment when Israel is being threatened once again with “international isolation” and even an arms boycott by a US administration filled with Obama acolytes. US-Israel relations are indeed at a watershed moment following the administration’s decision this week to abstain on (i.e., not veto) a rotten UN Security Council resolution that thoroughly delegitimizes Israel’s necessary and continuing war effort to eliminate Hamas in Gaza. Next will be a long series of demonizing and criminalizing anti-Israel resolutions in UN agencies and international courts. (The Human Rights Council discussed four vicious reports on Israel this week and is to front several resolutions including a finding of “genocide” supposedly being committed by Israel against Palestinians in Gaza.) Internationalizing the conflict and criminalizing Israel always was a central Palestinian strategy. Alas, US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken are now acquiescing in this horrible scheme, in order to wedge Israel into their fantasy framework for a swift, dangerously indecisive, end to the Gaza war. This includes a gambit for “revitalized” Palestinian statehood and a magnanimous soft deal with Iran that magically will make all regional wars go away, from Sana’a to Beirut and Rafah. Like Obama, Biden and Blinken will be “unable to manage” or mount a defense of Israel if Israel does not bend to their will. The big chill again coming from Washington is uncomfortable, but Israel has no choice but to resist. It is not an exaggeration to say that Israel stands at a moment of grand diplomatic inflection, a pivotal moment with historical implications for Israel’s sovereignty and long-term security. At issue is not just the question of how and when to destroy the remaining four Hamas brigades in Rafah in Gaza. Nor is the issue humanitarian aid to Palestinians trapped in the hell created by Hamas. At issue is the regional and international perception of Israel as a country capable of resoundingly winning an existential war of self-defense; a war against the first Muslim Brotherhood state ever established (Hamas in Gaza), a state that has genocidal plans for Israel long into the future again and again – unless eliminated. At issue is the regional and international perception of Israel as a country with the determination to rout the Iranian-backed Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Hezbollah proxies that have forced Israel into repeated rounds of draining warfare, and which now have depopulated and destroyed significant parts of southern and northern Israel. At issue is the regional and international perception of Israel as a nation that cannot be steamrolled into diplomatic or military defeat; that is able to act on its essential security imperatives and free all of Israel (including Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria) of terrorist violence and rocket attacks. At issue are regional and international perceptions of Israel as a society that is unified, resolute, and just; whose moral compass in wartime is unwavering; and whose partnership is reliable. WHAT THE Biden administration all of a sudden does not seem to understand (perhaps due to narrow electoral reasons), is that Israelis are mobilized and united to unambiguously win, with crushing certainty. This is not just “Netanyahu’s war,” as Western wags have slurred. For all of Biden’s true personal commitment to Israel, his administration also does not seem to comprehend that Western civilization itself is under attack from radical Islamist barbarians – with the Hamas war on Israel (alongside Hezbollah and Houthi attacks) being only the frontline of a broader assault on “Rome,” i.e., all the West. This is truly a world war that cannot be nicely dialed down by accommodationist diplomacy. And this is a war that best can be won if Washington stands by natural allies like Israel instead of punishing them. Israel cannot knuckle under. Israel stands quite alone, but what is new about that? “Lo, the people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations” (Numbers 23:9). Being “unreckoned” is unnerving but familiar territory for the People and the State of Israel. This is not a desirable situation, nor should Israel accept this as a permanent reality. There is much Israel must do to overcome gaps between its perception of the immediate and long-term challenges and those of other nations. There is much that Israel can and will do by resolute action that will force a grudging, positive reassessment by other nations, in due time. The writer is senior managing fellow at the Misgav Institute for National Security & Zionist Strategy, in Jerusalem. The views expressed here are his own. His diplomatic, defense, political, and Jewish world columns over the past 27 years are at davidmweinberg.com. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-27

The United States will only support a pause to the Gaza war that includes the release of hostages, (R-South Carolina) told reporters in Israel on Wednesday as he warned Hamas not to misunderstand Washington’s abstention on the recent United Nations Security Council resolution. “Hamas can’t believe for a second that Israel would pause the fighting without the return of the hostages,” Graham said. He spoke just two days after the United States refused to veto a Security Council resolution that called for a pause to the Gaza war but did not condition the temporary cessation of fighting on freeing hostages. Israel has warned that the US failure to use its veto sent Hamas the message that it doesn’t need , and weakened Jerusalem’s ability to secure a deal for their release. “The resolution debacle for lack of a better word... will soon be behind us. The one thing that Israel cannot afford is mixed signals,” Graham stressed. The United States’ position is that there “will never be a ceasefire unless the hostages are released,” he said. People react as residents of Tel Aviv show support and solidarity with the families of hostages who are being held in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 21, 2023 (credit: REUTERS/AMMAR AWAD) He noted that the wording of the UNSC resolution “created doubt” and that confusion has to be erased. Israel has a “moral obligation to its people to destroy Hamas” backed by international law, he stated, as he explained that Washington would in the end support an IDF Rafah operation to destroy four Hamas battalions in the southern part of the enclave. “I think there is disagreement” between Israel and the Biden administration “about how to move forward regarding Hamas,” Graham said. Biden officials have said they prefer that Israel rely on targeted operations to destroy Hamas rather than engage in a major military campaign. Israel has insisted that the latter option is necessary to destroy Hamas. “I hope that [this disagreement] can be resolved pretty soon, but I do know this administration agrees [that] to ask Israel not to destroy these battalions is just off the table,” he said. The United States has Israel’s back to get “this job done,” he stated, telling Israel that when it comes to ousting the terror group from Gaza, “do what you have to do.” Graham said he would support plans for Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress, noting that the tensions between the two governments were not as “bad as it seems.” “Israel has to destroy Hamas militarily. There is no hope for peace until you do that. The idea that Israel is somehow doing less than this [or] that Israel is violating international law. I don’t buy that.” He also dismissed claims that Israel was deliberately starving Palestinians, explaining that no other army in modern-day history has done as much as Israel to provide for enemy civilians during wartime. “The blood libel accusation against Israel, that they’re using starvation as a weapon of war, I will debate anybody anytime, anywhere about that.” Graham also stressed that Congress does not support slowing down weapons sales to Israel. He spoke as some Democratic politicians in Washington are pushing for the US to halt those sales altogether. “There would be a violent reaction in Congress if there was a whiff of any suggestion that we’re slowing down armaments to Israel, which is fighting for its very existence. So I think there will be a bipartisan pushback” should such a step occur, Graham stated. Graham spoke with reporters on his way to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman to push for a security agreement between Washington and Riyadh that would include a normalization deal with Israel and Saudi Arabia. Hamas attacked Israel on to thwart that deal, he said. As long as Hamas remains in Gaza, it would not be possible to move forward on a normalization deal, Graham said, particularly since it would have a Palestinian statehood component. The best way forward is for Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab states to “take ownership” of de-radicalizing Palestinian society in the West Bank and Gaza, he said. This has to include a new governing structure to replace the Palestinian Authority and a new education system that does not incite against Israel and Jews, he added. “The PA, as it exists today, in my view is not a legitimate partner for the State of Israel,” Graham said. He also pushed back against those on the Israeli Right who want to rebuild settlements in Gaza. “Some in Israel would like to occupy Gaza, resettle people in the West Bank,” Graham explained. “As a friend, I do not believe that to be a practical solution that would have much support anywhere.” But at the same time, Israel can’t leave Gaza, until the Palestinian society there is reformed. “Somebody needs to pull the Palestinian school system up by its roots and destroy it.” He accused the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which provides food and social services to Palestinian refugees of allowing educational material in their classrooms that incited against Jews and Israel. The Biden administration, which had been a major funder of UNRWA, halted its financial support of the organization this year after Israel charged that 12 of its staff members had participated in the October 7 attack against Israel. The United States, he underscored, has no intention of resuming its funding to UNRWA. “UNRWA as an organization is dead to the United States and the people of Israel. It must be replaced in terms of health care, basic necessities like food, as well as education,” Graham said. He advocated relying on the World Food Program to distribute food supplies in Gaza. Graham said he intended to discuss with MBS the Knesset vote against unilateral Palestinian statehood, as he noted that the vote was also a mandate to hold talks on Palestinian statehood through a bilateral agreement. The Knesset vote, “reinforced the concept of direct negotiations without preconditions,” Graham said. The unilateral Palestinian statehood option that is being pushed by Great Britain, Canada, and others “is a disaster for Israel” and would be viewed as a step in support for the October 7 attack, the senator stated.  “You do not want to reward the terrorists for killing Jews,” Graham added. Even as he touted the US-Saudi defense agreement, he noted that it would include a civilian nuclear program under which uranium would be enriched. Seven percent of the world’s uranium is in Saudi Arabia, which wants to use that resource in its civil nuclear program for peaceful purposes, Graham stated. “I’m sure Israel will be very concerned about how that program is set up,” Graham said. Overall, he said, this deal is so helpful to the region, that he would support it even though it would give a political victory to US President Joe Biden during his reelection campaign. “I want to be the Republican supporting a deal on your watch,” he said in a message to Biden. If this agreement is finalized, then “we have a chance to talk about the future of the Palestinians,” Graham said, explaining that in that scenario Israel may have to make some hard decisions. The Saudi deal, however, won’t prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, and this threat has to be addressed separately. In a reference to the cross-border violence between Israel and the Iranian proxy group Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border, he noted that the Lebanese Shi’ite terror group had increased its aggression against Israel. Graham said he planned to introduce a Congressional resolution upon his return to Washington “declaring that any attack by Hezbollah of significance against the State of Israel should be considered an attack by Iran against the state of Israel.” “It is time for us to go to the heart of the problem,” Graham said. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-27

The politics is getting out of control, and the question is whether it puts the fate of the hostages and the objective of defeating Hamas at risk.  insist that they were taken aback by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement that he was calling off a trip to Washington by a delegation headed by National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, after the US refused to thwart a UN Security Council resolution which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The Biden administration is familiar with the players in Netanyahu’s circle. Hanegbi and Dermer, the latter in particular, are the prime minister’s people. US officials acknowledge that with this decision to call off the trip, Netanyahu was “putting his foot down,” feeling increasing heat personally from the administration over how he is running Israel’s affairs. “ was here earlier this month, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is here now, [and] the defense establishments are in constant contact,” a White House aide argued. “Calling off the Hanegbi-Dermer delegation is political window dressing by the prime minister.” In response to the question of whether the administration was also acting politically – by supporting Israel but looking over its shoulder amid the president’s re-election campaign to make sure it didn’t alienate its electorate too much – a White House aide insisted: “Israel has no better friend than the Biden administration, in general – and regarding Gaza, in particular.” U.S. President Joe Biden, left, pauses during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, to discuss the war between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (credit: Miriam Alster/Pool via REUTERS//File Photo) On the one hand, the aide seemed to be charging that Netanyahu was not sufficiently appreciating the administration’s obstacle course in navigating its policy regarding Gaza, and that calling off the visit to Washington by his delegation only exacerbated the public impression “that the two countries are not on the same side.” On the other hand, the aide reiterated that “on the ground, our cooperation is not affected.” In a recent MSNBC interview, President Joe Biden charged that Netanyahu was doing more harm than good; he has also publicly questioned Israel’s . However, a White House aide insisted that the president’s endgame remains “the defeat of Hamas.” Yet, regarding Hanegbi and Dermer staying home, instead of visiting Washington at least right now, administration officials seem fine with holding high-profile contacts in the US capital with high-level Israeli officials who themselves have tense relations with Netanyahu. The president and his people are aware of domestic issues in Israel, including the resistance by Gallant and Gantz to Netanyahu’s moves on the matter of haredi (ultra-Orthodox) enlistment in the IDF. Within the Biden administration, there isn’t totally smooth sailing either. Officials have acknowledged that Vice President Kamala Harris has been the “weak link” in support for the Israeli campaign in Gaza. Yet, said one official, “she is toeing the line and in principle supports what the Israeli mission is all about,” even if her pronouncements at times “seem more blunt about what Israel is doing wrong.” Biden has stronger support for his Gaza policy, say aides, from Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan. Some aides seem to hint that having Harris playing “bad cop” with some of her declarations on Israel allows Biden to hope he can placate those who say they would vote for him in November, but are threatening not to do so over what some even call his support for “genocide.” “Listen, the [UN] Security Council called for a ceasefire, but it also called for a release of the hostages,” argued a Biden aide. “We have not abandoned Israel, [and] we have not abandoned the Israeli mission in Gaza. We have also not abandoned the need for humanitarian aid and working toward the overall well-being of Palestinians in Gaza. “The question is what is the best way to achieve all these goals; it is challenging,” the aide said. “We want to work with the Israelis. We want to work with them on how to achieve victory over Hamas in general, and how best to achieve the aims of a Rafah operation in particular, but not in a way – as both the president and vice president have said – that would lead to a civilian bloodbath. And yes, we want the return of the hostages.” Biden’s re-election campaign advisers continue to watch the Gaza policy closely. The president is said to be feeling the heat over warnings he is receiving that he has a very thin tightrope to walk on: promoting his policy but not risking defeat in November. “Gaza is not the only reason for concern,” conceded a Biden political adviser, “but it’s a big reason.” Netanyahu’s announcement – calling off the visit by the Hanegbi-Dermer delegation to Washington to discuss Rafah policy and how to release the hostages – came as the prime minister was battling for his political life, warning coalition naysayers to the proposals regarding haredi military recruitment that if an agreement is not reached, the government would fall. So apparently, the US and Israeli landscapes both currently abound with political window dressing by the two leaders, Biden and Netanyahu. Such behavior is not rare in the political world, but right now, if these maneuvers by the president and prime minister do in fact get out of control, the ramifications could be extremely dangerous and deadly. The writer is op-ed editor of The Jerusalem Post. ...قراءة المزيد

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2024-03-25

Itamar Ben-Gvir and Ismael Haniyeh, and Benjamin Netanyahu were all implicated together in the speech of Senate Democratic Majority Leader Chuck Schumer as thwarting the two-state solution and with it the only chance for calm and peace.  Netanyahu, of course, rushed as usual to attack for elections in Israel and called on the Jewish senator to “respect the government and not undermine it.” But the truth is that it was the Netanyahu government that crushed the trust and respect of the absolute majority of American Jewry and Democratic Party supporters.  The binding together of Hamas and a is not easy for the Israeli ear, but when it comes from a person like Schumer, it obliges all of us to take it seriously. The process began on the day of the establishment of the most extreme government in the history of the State of Israel, with the participation of a Kahanist party that Netanyahu normalized, along with other messianic extremists. The sequel was very quick with the announcement of the “regime coup” – which, in the eyes of many of Israel’s friends in the United States, was a serious blow to the alliance between the countries based on their shared democratic values. The horrors of October 7 brought unprecedented support from the American administration to Israel, but Netanyahu and his government proved that there are those who do not respect another administration and instead subvert it. Instead of working together with the Biden administration, the prime minister chose to fight, ignore all the requests and demands, and start a media campaign against a president who defines himself as a Zionist, and who chose to stand by Israel and its citizens. US President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023 (credit: CHAIM TZACH/GPO) SCHUMER IS not one of the progressives that the Netanyahu government likes to attack, and he is not alone in his disappointment with the prime minister and his policies. More and more senior American officials who for years supported all Israeli governments and their policies, regardless of their party and political identity, are changing their attitude and intensifying their criticism of the Netanyahu government.  These include President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who insist on separating the Israeli government from its citizens; senior members of Congress such as Schumer; and Rep. Jerry Nadler, “the senior Jew in the House of Representatives”, who recently deepened his criticism of Netanyahu, attacking him for his unwillingness to promote political processes and called for a ceasefire. The various “hasbaristas” (PR people) have explained to us until now that the problem is with the anti-Zionist Left, but it turns out that the current government has managed to tire itself even of the people who for recent decades have almost automatically stood by the State of Israel and who were the most enthusiastic partners of AIPAC. Netanyahu’s conduct, even before October 7 in regards to the “regime coup” and then in avoiding any political engagement of one kind or another in relation to the future of the Gaza Strip and the region, led to the deepening of alienation towards his government among the greatest lovers of the State of Israel. This includes Jews like Schumer and Nadler, who see that the country they love and support is changing its face and turning into a dictatorship in the making on the inside and a country indifferent to human life on the outside. Precisely at such a difficult time, in the face of the horrors of Hamas that have strengthened the identification of Jews all over the world with Israel, the nation-state of their people, Netanyahu and his partners are doing everything they can to keep our loved ones away from us. “Faithful are the wounds of a friend” (Proverbs 27:6); it is our duty as citizens and as a country to listen to the words of our real friends, and to do what is necessary to restore our country’s dignity and with it the trust of our friends and allies in the world. The writer is J Street Israel’s executive director. He has served as an Israeli diplomat in Washington and Boston and as a political adviser to the president of Israel. ...قراءة المزيد

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